A reserve versus a small hydroelectric plant: Colombia's energy dilemma

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This is the story of a civil society natural reserve created three years ago, located in the municipality of Abejorral, in the bowels of Antioquia, in Colombia and that of its neighbors.

But also that of a small hydroelectric power plant (PCH) that began to be built two years ago, which was concessioned 20 years ago and which 200 meters higher, through that dense mountain, seeks to use the natural fall of the river to generate energy.

The reserve wants to conserve the 61.5 hectares of forest, generate environmental awareness and respect for the river through tourism and, above all, safeguard the Salto del Aures, a natural beauty of more than 400 meters high that it has built with its unstoppable dew the humid forest ecosystem of the area.

The hydroelectric plant, for its part, wants to generate 24.9 megawatts to distribute throughout Colombia and contribute to the country's promise of generating energy that does not come from highly polluting thermal power plants.

Although at first glance this could be a story of almost biblical tensions like that of David and Goliath, these neighbors rather reveal the debates, negotiations and deep conversations that are beginning in Colombia, which, in the light of experts, It can become a great world power for generating hydropower and alternative energies such as solar and wind.

“Eastern Antioquia is probably one of the most powerful places in the world to build hydroelectric plants: we have an abundance of water, high natural falls and good geology, the three elements of the recipe for hydraulic energy,” explains Santiago Ortega. , author of the book

Energy Scenarios

, and co-founder of Emergente, a company specialized in developing disruptive businesses in sustainability and energy.

This area of ​​Colombia, according to the expert, began to develop in the 1980s with loans from the World Bank, building chains of large reservoirs such as Guatapé (420 MW of energy) and San Carlos (1,240 MW of energy), which today Today they are the heart of the Colombian electricity sector and why, according to Ortega, Colombia is an almost carbon-free country in the energy sector.

“Before 2030 we will be 100% renewable,” he says.

However, through the decades of energy generation in these territories, but also the radical and unsuspected changes in the social and ecosystem landscape, the population of eastern Antioquia seems to have not perceived the benefits of nesting all that energy.

“With the average transfers from the electricity sector in Colombia, the municipality of San Carlos, Antioquia, should have the standard of living of Switzerland today and it does not have it.

To them, on the contrary, came guerrilla warfare, paramilitarism, forced displacement, corruption and this naturally made the people of this area say 'we don't want more of this,' adds Ortega.

Invocations of a reservation

In this context, there is a certain boredom that these projects have left in an area that today has a very high number of 37 concessions to build hydroelectric plants, and after the multidimensional crisis caused by the Hidroituango dam megaproject, César Agudelo, owner of The natural reserve seeks to achieve at least respect for the environmental law that requires PCH Aures II to maintain an ecological flow that does not kill the waterfall and allows the river to continue flowing to feed crops and tourism.

His fight, in reality, is not only about the environment, it is also about what that river has meant for his family and his community.

César's father bought these lands 40 years ago, and his love for the river, which naturally enclosed the limits of his land in a majestic waterfall, led him to open a path with a machete so that more people could access that natural beauty that , they would later discover, is the second highest fall in Antioquia.

However, the armed conflict that historically plagued this area for decades kept many away from the natural wealth of this landscape.

A waterfall in the nature reserve. César Agudelo (Salto del Aures Reserve)

Three years ago, with the peace treaties in progress, and seeing the tourist development of Medellín and the entire Antioquia department, César decided to give life to that land again and create a hotel that would give guide and access to visitors to the Salto del Aures, in addition to getting Natural Parks, the national environmental authority, to endorse its land as a reserve to protect its ecological wealth and biodiversity.

“Our father loved this territory and the river has been part of the community for centuries, so with the construction of this hydroelectric plant, we see an immense threat.

First, the deterioration of the ecosystem.

When an ecosystem has been accustomed for thousands of years to the dew released by the collision of water with rock, any change in that flow makes plants and animals resent it.

They say that nothing is going to happen, but we know that it will happen because of what has been seen in other territories,” explains Agudelo.

According to a study published in the academic journal Energy Policy in 2017, which analyzed 3,600 articles that talked about the environmental effects of small hydroelectric plants in the world, the biggest warning regarding this type of energy is precisely that “there is a lack of knowledge and recognition of the social, environmental and cumulative impacts” of these infrastructures.

Despite initially taking the route of direct action, filing legal remedies such as guardianship - which were rejected by the authorities -, César has opted for a path that may be more beneficial for everyone: seeking the hydroelectric plant to help him protect all that humid forest.

"We do not want to go against development, the works are very advanced, the roads are already being built, expecting them to stop is very difficult, but what we do want is to comply with the environmental standard and to ensure that the water studies do. reveal that the river can generate energy and continue with an ecological flow,” says Agudelo.

Where do energy money go?

Luis Felipe Loaiza, director of operations of the Aures Bajo hydroelectric plant - another PCH that is in the area, but in a lower part of the river - and electromechanical advisor of the new one being built, Aures II, understands where the community apprehension.

“By law we are obliged to give 3% of our profits to the municipalities that have an account percentage and another 3% to the corporation that has surveillance in the area.

In approximate data, from 2019 to 2022, we have distributed the profits as follows: 1.8% to the municipality of Sonsón, which means that in these years of operation we have delivered around 928 million pesos (234,000 dollars), another 600 million pesos (150,000 dollars) approximately for the municipality of Abejorral and, for Cornare, the environmental authority, which is another partner, 1.5 billion pesos (378,000 dollars).

In total, 3,000 million pesos (757,000 dollars) have been delivered that are not reflected in the community and that we have alerted so that they demand to know their destinations.

Where are those moneys? ”He increments.

Since the hydroelectric plants comply with delivering the money required by law, they do not feel obliged to make concessions to the communities, such as building a suspension bridge, the request that the community of Aures Bajo has made or working hand in hand with César Sharpen it to do all the environmental monitoring of your reserve.

At the end of the day, they argue, that should be the job of municipal or environmental authorities.

“In the hydroelectric industry, the vast majority of developers are very short-sighted in dismissing community tensions and conflicts.

Hydroelectric plants actually provide a lot of money, but they cannot control where they go and the population, who could do so, does not know how, that is why in other regions of the country we are trying to propose another model," says Santiago Ortega, who proposes: “Why not rather give the community a percentage of energy sales through a foundation to which 6% of the income is allocated so that they can invest for their own benefit.

There is a board of directors that has to report to the company and the community and they do not have to get involved with legal issues to verify the execution of those monies and due to tax issues for the company it turns out to be actually an expense of 1%,” he explains. he.

Typical farm of Antioquia.

While more effective ways are being found to work together between hydroelectric plants and the community, engineer Loaiza assures that PCHs are a truly clean alternative to generate energy without damaging the ecosystem where they are created.

"We take care of and defend the 162 hectares where Aures Bajo is located, we scare away hunters, we carry out reforestation, we take actions for environmental control, we are guardians because, for us, water is our fuel and we need to do everything in our power to maintain the living river

The community is often misinformed.

They tell the residents that the water is disappearing, but that is physically impossible.

“We treat the water, we monitor the river at the point of collection, we carry out risk prevention control, we also clean the water, we drive it through turbines and then return it to the river with more oxygen and cleaner,” he explains.

With hydroelectric projects of large reservoirs almost disappearing from the market due to their very high costs, social effects and the time they take to build, PCHs are presented as a certain route to grow energy potential, although the effects have yet to be measured. .

“It is very easy to stigmatize energy projects when everyone is calm at home with their WhatsApp and their computer, washing their jeans and using their appliances.

Nobody realizes behind the scenes everything that has to be done to obtain energy,” adds Loaiza.

César Agudelo is seeking to create clearer bridges with hydroelectric power.

“We want to do positive activism, we are going to make sure that this forest has a sufferer, we will be guardians that nothing happens to the river and, in the meantime, we will continue looking for alliances so that as a community we can manage the tourism project and the coffee and coffee crops. cane from the area.”

These bridges, for alternative energy expert Santiago Ortega, are the route to follow: “Energy projects no longer have any other way than to take the community into account to be successful and they will realize that there is nothing better than having the community on your side.”